Tag Archives: Indian

The more I cook curry, the more I realize that it is not too difficult. You just need to get all the spices (which can last pretty long) and cooking is so easy. I’ve already made Malaysian Curry Chicken and Beef Rendang so I was looking for another type of curry to cook for my cell group. Rogan Josh sounded interesting and different 🙂 Normally, it will be lamb Rogan Josh but since I have some rib fingers in my fridge, I cooked beef instead. So easy and so quick. It took only half an hour to get to the ‘simmer for 1-2 hours’ step.

Method
1. In a food processor, blend Spice (A) until you have a smooth paste. Add 1 tbsp of water if needed.
2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir fry Spice (A) for 5 minutes or until medium brown colour.
3. Add Spice (B) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes or till aromatic.
4. Add the meat and stir occasionally for 2 minutes.
5. Add yoghurt and tomato paste and mix well.
6. Add water, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and turn down the heat.
7. Simmer for 1-2 hours till meat is tender and until the sauce has thickened to the desired consistency, stirring occasionally.
8. Sprinkle the garam masala over the meat and mix well before you serve. You can store it in the freezer for up to a month.

I decided to cook Malaysian lunch for a few Malaysian friends who live here in Hong Kong. Was thinking what to cook and decided that nasi lemak with curry will be great.

One of my husband’s favourite is Indian food and I have always wanted to try cooking that over these past few years. But every time I read the recipes, I just gave up cos of the list of spices to get. But recently, I’ve been into Indian food and I thought let’s try it then. I pushed myself to get all the spices I needed which was quite a lot and of course, refer to my favourite cook – Jamie Oliver. Actually if you have all those spices, the cooking part is really not that hard. I went through recipes and finally decided to make the Chicken Tikka Massala. However, I made slight modifications to the original recipe.

First, you need to make the masala paste. As I was cooking a few dishes for lunch, I prepared the paste a day before to save time. (Click here for original recipe)

1. Peel the garlic and ginger
2. Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat and add the cumin seeds and coriander seeds for toasting.
3. Lightly toast them for a few minutes until golden brown and smelling delicious, then remove the pan from the heat.
4. Add the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar and grind until fine, or put them into a food processor and whiz to a powder.
5. When you’ve ground them whiz the toasted spices in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste. (As my food processer doesn’t grind finely when it’s too dry, I added a little bit of water)

Then, we can start cooking the Chicken Tikka Masala. This recipe was taken from Jamie’s Ministry of Food.

Method
1. Put a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter.
2. Add the onions, chilli, ginger and coriander stalks and cook for 10minutes, until softened and golden.
3. Add the tikka masala curry paste and the strips of chicken.
4. Stir well to coat everything with the paste and season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the tomatoes and the coconut milk.
6. Fill one of the empty tins with water, pour into the pan and stir again.
7. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.
8. Check the curry regularly to make sure it’s not drying out and add extra water if necessary.
9. When the meat is tender and cooked, taste and add a bit more salt and pepper.
10. Before serving, sprinkle over the almonds and coriander leave and squeeze some lemon over it. (I did not add the yoghurt per the original recipe).

On top of the Chicken Tikka Masala, I also made a pork chili dish. This is a recipe which I got from the Periplus Mini Cookbooks but I made slight modifications to the recipe. Surprisingly, this dish tasted pretty good and I like that it has a strong Indian taste.

1. Heat the oil in a pan and stir-fry the fennel and cumin seeds until aromatic.
2. Add the onions and stir-fry until golden brown, about 10mins.
3. Add the chillies, tomatoes, ginger and garlic and stir-fry over low heat for about 4-6mins.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the pork is tender, about 20mins.
5. Dish up and serve hot.